Polis

Polis (pl.: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. In ancient times, a polis was more than just a city; it was a special place where people lived together and made their own rules. Every polis had its own government and expected its people to work hard for it. For the ancient Greeks, the polis was like their home country, not just a town in the countryside.

These ancient cities were not only in what we now call Greece. Studies show that there were about 1,500 such poleis spread from Southern Russia to Southern Spain, and from the Caucasus to Northern Egypt, along the coasts of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Some of these places, like Marseille and Syracuse, still exist today, though they are part of other countries now.

Ancient Greeks often started new poleis far away from their homelands to solve problems or find better land. These new cities were called colonies, and the original city was known as a metropolis or "mother city." Even though these colonies were far away, they still kept strong ties to their mother city. The Greeks also sometimes used the word polis for important cities that were not Greek-speaking, like Carthage.

Definition

The word polis refers to a city in Ancient Greek and was used in early Greek literature like the Iliad. It had deeper meanings, such as representing a state or community. Famous thinkers like Plato and Aristotle studied the idea of the perfect polis, thinking about how governments should work and what makes a city fair and balanced.

In modern times, the Greek word for city is still related to polis, but the specific word for the buildings and spaces of a city is different. The study of ancient poleis continues to help us understand how these early cities and societies worked.

Modern models

In modern history, the word πόλις (polis) is often used without translating it. For instance, a writer might use it directly in English, as in "The World of the Polis" by Eric Voegelin. This approach allows the writer to define polis based on examples from ancient Greek cities.

One challenge is that some models of the polis do not fit all cases. For example, Classical Athens does not neatly match some descriptions of what a polis should be. Another way to understand the polis is to translate it into the historian's own language, but this can bring in assumptions that may not be true.

One famous model was created by Coulanges, who compared Greek and Italic (early Italian) cities. He suggested they followed similar patterns, but this view does not account for differences between them. For example, Rome's early history, as told by Livy, involved warriors forming a city through alliances and conflicts, not through family or tribal growth as Coulanges suggested.

Later, the term "city-state" was used to describe the polis, but this also has problems. Not all poleis were city-states; some, like Lacedaemon, were made up of villages and did not have a central urban area. Modern studies have moved away from strict definitions, looking instead at evidence from ancient texts and inscriptions to understand what made a polis.

Ancient Greek models

Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, wrote extensively about the concept of the polis, which refers to a city or city-state. In his work titled Politics, Aristotle described the essential characteristics of a polis, including its location, population, and constitution. He explained that changing any of these aspects would mean it was no longer the same polis.

Aristotle viewed the polis as a community, comparing it to a game of chess where each piece has a role. He also likened it to a human body, where every part depends on the whole. According to Aristotle, a polis is formed when families and villages come together to achieve self-sufficiency. This idea aligns with archaeological studies that show how ancient Greek settlements developed from smaller family units into larger, more complex communities.